Gabriel Calloet de Querbrat (or Calloet-Kerbrat, according to the Breton spelling he sometimes used), was born at an unknown date between 1616 and 1620p. 243. Vincent Audren de Kerdrel proposed a birth around 1600, because he assumed that Calloet was already of a certain age when he became general counsel in 1642. This is the date most often used. in Kerbrat-en-Servel (now in the commune of Lannion, Côtes-d'Armor), and died in Lannion on June 30, 1697, aged around 80. He was a Breton Catholic agriculturist and writer. Considered to have introduced the idea of zootechnical improvement through cross-breeding to France, he played an important role in the establishment of hôpitaux généraux (lit. French for general hospitals) in the seventeenth century.
Agricultural experiments
Gabriel Calloet-Kerbrat, a member of the minor nobility of Trégor, was educated at the Jesuit college in La Flèche, before studying law in Paris.p. 244. On July 21, 1642, he became general counsel at the Chambre des Comptes de Bretagne in Nantes, a position he held as a successor, most probably from his relative Antoine Calloet. On July 10, 1646, he was appointed general counsel for the September session, an office newly created by Louis XIV, which he held until 1664.de Fourmont, Hyacinthe de Fourmont, Histoire de la Chambre des comptes de Bretagne [History of the Chambre des Comptes de Bretagne] (in French), Paris, Signy et Dubey, 1854, pp. 332, 352 and 425. Finally, in 1647, he became State Counselor. His parliamentary career has never been studied, and for this period he can only be credited with writing a eulogy in Latin for Cardinal de La Rochefoucauld, around 1645.Epitaphius ill. card. Rupifucaldii a p. Calloet, slnd, .
During the 1650s, he devoted himself to agricultural experimentation on his property. He was also passionate about honey production, owning a large orchard and over 800 beehives. To better understand their way of life, he developed the first known glass beehive, and took great pride in having "learned how to manage and heal them in a way that Virgil and all the others who have written about them never did".p. 126. But he was also involved in sheep, goat, horse and cattle breeding, and cultivated using his methods, his land yielded, according to his estimates, a third more than his neighbors.pp. 5–6. He successfully experimented with the use of winter sainfoin, i.e. gorse, for fodder, which he would later propagate, and for which he invented a harrow specially designed to loosen the soil so that it could be planted in winter, on a field that had been used for barley.p. 125. His later writings bear witness to his direct knowledge of agricultural matters, as he sometimes used Breton vocabulary to designate certain plants and practices.pp. 243–244. He was visibly familiar with horse breeding, as the Breton bishoprics of Tréguier and Léon were major horse exporters at the time.p. 124
Calloet-Kerbrat also invented a machine for crushing gorse to extract fodder for livestock, often cited in agronomic literature.Des découvertes et des inventions nouvelles faites dans les Sciences, les Arts et les Manufactures, tant en France que dans les Pays étrangers, pendant l'année 1812 [New discoveries and inventions made in the Sciences, Arts and Manufactures, both in France and in foreign countries, during 1812] (in French), Paris, Treuttel & Wurtz, 1813. He particularly recommended using this plant for newborn foals, as well as cows and sheep. This practice, along with the use of this machine, seems to have spread to Brittany during the eighteenth century,de Neufchâteau, Nicolas François, Mémoire sur le profit que l'Agriculture peut tirer du Genêt commun, ou genêt à balai (spartium scoparium) [A memoir on the benefits to agriculture of the common broom (spartium scoparium)] (in French), 1st part, Mémoires d'agriculture, d'économie rurale et domestique publiés par la Société d'agriculture de la Seine [Memoirs on agriculture, rural and domestic economics published by the Société d'agriculture de la Seine.] (in French), t. X, Paris, Huzard, p. 160. and his feeding advice still appears in nineteenth-century veterinary literature.Boulay, Henri-Marie & Reynal, Jean, Nouveau dictionnaire pratique de médecine, de chirurgie, et d'hygiène [New practical dictionary of medicine, surgery and hygiene] (in French), t. 1, Paris, Labbé, p. 297. Among his inventions, it is also worth mentioning his "loge", used to store turnips during the winter, and his turnip chopper for feeding cattle, which are among the first agricultural machines described by their inventor. His drawing plates were regularly reproduced in the 18th century, notably in the Maison rustique, which ensured their wide distribution.
This desire for practical experimentation is explicit in Calloet-Kerbrat's work, even if it coexisted with other forms of establishing proof: he consulted ancient authorities, mainly Aristotle and Hippocrates, and modern ones, although he was wary of doctors, (with the exception of Juan Huarte), he consulted archives and listened to the opinions of competent people. After listening to the advice of the women of his village on the effect of different wind directions on the birth of roosters, Calloet-Kerbrat conducted experiments on the influence of salt crystals on humidity, and made observations on hair curling, in the process indicting the cost and unhealthiness of wigs. He concluded, in line with his theory, that males from warm, dry semen were favored by north and east winds. On the other hand, when he hadn't experimented with a procedure he reported, he pointed out that it could be used to select the coat of an unborn foal: a carpet of the desired color was painted, and the mare was covered with it from mating to birth. This procedure, applied to sheep, was already used by the prophet Joshua.pp. 14–15 In all seriousness, then, his approach was that of seventeenth-century science, where experimentation took precedence over the citation of authorities.
Agricultural publications
Ruined by a lawsuit, Calloet-Kerbrat moved to Paris. Here, from 1666 to 1680, he published a series of pamphlets on the zootechnical improvement of goats, sheep, cows and horses, although he was happy to deal with related subjects such as the choice of sex for children, criticism of the wearing of wigs, advertising for his universal remedy and criticism of legal wrangling (one of the Company of the Blessed Sacrament's favorite themes). These were all short texts, written in a direct, Olivier de Serres-like style, with a touch of humor and numerous references to personal experience and classical culture. Audren de Kerdrel, his first biographer, noted the familiar tone with which Calloet-Kerbrat addressed great people, including the king, attributing this trait to his Breton origins. It could also be attributed to the company's practices, where precedence based on rank was ruled out.
Calloet-Kerbrat sought to meet Colbert. Several historians considered Calloet-Kerbrat to be the inspiration behind the Controller-General of Finances's policy of improving livestock breeding,Virol, Michèle, Vauban, de la gloire du roi au service de l'état [Vauban, from the glory of the king to the service of the state] (in French), Champvallon, 2003, p. 208. and agronomy historian André Jean Bourde himself wrote: "One cannot discuss Colbert's activity in the field of agriculture without saying something about a remarkable agronomic personality, Calloet-Querbrat or Calloet de Kerbrat".p. 122 Traces of their meeting are nonetheless lacking, but it is indeed probable, since the Bibliothèque nationale preserves a letter, dated February 6, 1666, in which the latter requested an appointment with Colbert, on the recommendation of the Duke of Mazarin, Lieutenant General of Brittany: "Poür ces chevaux, brebis, et vaches, M. le Duc Mazarin, m'a demandé des mémoires, qu'il m'a dit avoir donné vous, et que vous désiriez me parler" ("For these horses, sheep and cows, M. le Duc Mazarin, asked me for some memoirs, which he told me he had given you, and that you wished to speak to me").BnF ms fr., Mélanges Colbert. Correspondence: January–March 1666, f° 513. Published in He referred to his first pamphlets, which had just been published. One of them was dedicated to the minister, who received a specially printed copy on vellum – now kept at the Bibliothèque nationale – in which Calloet-Kerbrat reminded him that he had written the memoirs at his request.
Calloet-Kerbrat's proposed solutions were inspired by Colbertian ideas. He suggested, for example, sending a flandrin bull to each parish, to crossbreed with local cows to create a larger, more fertile breed, and granting their guardians tax privileges, as was done for stallions in Poitou. Colbert's interest in horses began in 1659, followed by cattle in 1662. He believed in the possibility of improvement through crossbreeding with imported breeding stock, since he was concerned with bringing stallions, rams and bulls to France. On this point, he agreed with the ideas of Calloet-Kerbrat, against the prevailing idea that the animal is a simple reflection of the soil, and that crossbreeding led to rapid degeneration. In other respects, however, he was at the opposite end of the spectrum from the Breton agronomist: while Calloet-Kerbrat proposed doubling the amount of grazed land in the kingdom, Colbert passed the Edict of Triage (1667), which allocated one-third of uncultivated land to the seigneurs – and if there were no seigneurs, to the King – who would generally transform it into cultivated land rather than pasture. Calloet-Kerbrat's influence on Colbertian practice is therefore probable, but limited.
Disdaining local breeds, Calloet-Kerbrat was well informed about breeding methods abroad. He praised the Flandrines cows, imported to Poitou by Bradley's Flemings working to drain the Marais Poitevin; he offered the first French-language description of English sheep, and their successful crossbreeding with Spanish animals and he also mentioned Dutch sheep. His association with the ambassador of Denmark, a country where agricultural science was more advanced than in France, may have played a role in introducing him to the practices of that country, which he often cited as a reference.p. 11